


First Encounter

by _katrinacahill (angelfrom221b)



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bullying Mention, Demon Deals, Gen, Kid!Bill - Freeform, Role Reversal AU, demon!dipper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 08:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3644304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelfrom221b/pseuds/_katrinacahill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>William never liked being defenseless, he didn't like not being able to fight back. So now that he knew about a demon who'd do what he want (so long as he paid the price), William thought it would be a good idea to strike a deal with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Encounter

When he heard of the news, William became ecstatic. He could come back to Gravity Falls for summer, and finally he could find a way to stop the bullying. He had read about it in Journal 2, how a demon could grant you what you wanted in exchange for a price.

He was hoping that Grunkle Stan would agree with him. That, yeah, he _had_ to make a deal. But unfortunately for him, his Grunkle didn't agree.  


"Deals are shady business, kid." His Grunkle had told him. "When you pay, you gotta pay big."

But he _had_ to make the deal. He'd had enough of children shoving him into lockers, children chucking dodgeballs at his head. He hated coming home with bruises on his body every day. As much as he liked pain, he didn't like it when someone he hated was the one who inflicted it. Even worse, when the pain dragged out for months, with new bruises and fractures to go along with it. _It wasn't fun anymore!_

He slipped out of the Shack, his backpack slung on one shoulder as his hand carried a flashlight. It was midnight, and the only light there was was the moon's. He turned on his flashlight and he directed it at the ground as he pulled out Journal 2 from his backpack. He flipped through its pages before he redirected the light to the book.

" _Creature #326, dream demon from the Mindscape._ " He read aloud. William looked up at the woods and back to his book, contemplating where he could summon the demon. "Yeah, I think I can make the deal in the clearing past the Gnomes' little city."

He closed the book and he hugged it close to him. It would be a long trek to the clearing, and he didn't want to waste any time. He couldn't afford it.

\--

William didn't understand why Gnomes were so adamant to make him their 'Queen'. They seemed like they were doing alright without a matriarch, so why bother? Couldn't they just play board games to pass off the loneliness?

"Maybe I should consider the Gnomes as bullies, too?" He asked himself out loud. He looked down at his watch and flashed his light to it. _3:20AM_.

Great, he spent two hours trying to keep the Gnomes away from him. _Lawn ornaments are a nuisance_ , he thought bitterly.

He trudged on, the Journal still clutched in his hands, and he tried his best to ignore the stinging pain of his cuts. They weren't all too deep, but they were pretty wide and they hurt when he moved. He'd have to explain to his Grunkle how he got the cuts overnight -- he couldn't hide them with any make-up he had.

"Let's see," He muttered as he opened the book to the page he wanted. He adjusted the light once again, making sure he'd get to see both the text and the ground before him. " _Creature number three-hundred twenty-six, a dream demon. Today I had used a summoning I found in one of the public library's history section. I found it odd that they'd have that in the history section, but at least it was useful._ "

William could hear the birds chirp in their nests high above him, even the crickets by the patches of grass. They all became more quiet the farther he walked on the dirt path. It could have been because the clearing wasn't the animals' favourite place. There was an air about it that screamed " _Go away, we don't like you!_ "

" _At first I was fearful. I believed that the demon would be hostile -- I even believed that it would try to lace its every word with possession spells! But when I had summoned it, it was not the case. It was helpful and kind, already eager to help me in whatever problems I had -- all for free! No deals whatsoever! Fiddleford says that it was most likely biding its time -- that it has plans it didn't want me to be suspicious of. It only said that Fiddleford was too paranoid. I believe the demon -- Fiddleford has been a bit on-edge the past few weeks._ " William turned to read the paragraph, he could feel the path become ragged and when he looked up, he could see that the clearing was close. 

William stopped reading and closed the book. He jammed his index finger in-between the pages to serve as a bookmark. With his other hand he directed the light to show him his path and steadily, he walked into the clearing.

The clearing looked a lot like a small meadow. It was surrounded by pine trees and patches of rare flowers. The grass glittered against the moon's illuminated light, no doubt because of the rain from earlier that night.

William walked over to the barren patch at the center, the one muddied and bare of grass or plant life. "Huh, looks like this is a good place to start." He put down his backpack before he patted the ground. "Not as bad as I thought! Hard enough to be able to write on it -- thank God!"

He pulled out the red paint and brush from his bag. He looked at his watch again to see that is was almost four in the morning. William had to work fast, otherwise he'd be in a lot of trouble if he wasn't found at home.

 

By the time he was done setting up the circle, it was already past four and his hands were caked with mud, red paint, and candle wax. He figured that he'd have to clean up by the creek before he got home, but at least now he was done.

"It's done, right?" He asked himself as he checked the book. When he saw that he had not forgotten a detail, he sighed in relief. He leaned back and he pulled the book onto his lap. 

The demon wouldn't care if he'd gotten mud on the Journal, right? It's not like it were the demon's, anyways.

William cleared his throat and stood up, trying to regain balance as he held the book in his hands. "Hope my Latin pronunciation's okay enough for this to work." He mumbled under his breath.

_"Scribam ad te venire:_  
_Demon of sequuntur somnia, et in terrore; responde:_  
_Notus pro immisericordia et tacere,_  
_Terror Didymus et Delusions! "_

William felt something tug at his gut as he felt a wave of dizziness overwhelm him. The winds howled and made the trees sway. His candles burned brighter than it was before, and he could feel his loss of breath. He dropped the book and clawed at his throat, sinking to his knees as he gasped for air.

As he felt dizzy, William could see that his surroundings were losing its colours. The trees and the grass lost the green of its leaves, the mud no longer dark brown -- everything that wasn't William had turned grey. He turned to the summoning circle and he could see the flames grow larger, almost like a bonfire, and then he heard screams.

It was all around him -- he couldn't pinpoint where it was -- and it blared in his ears loudly. He could see a circle form in the air above his circle, engulfed in fire like it was a portal from Hell.

Something was pulled out of the circle, and it looked like it was a ... tree? No, no ... it looked like a cartoon tree. It looked odd, and he would have laughed if not for the fact that the creature looked familiar somehow.

The cartoon-looking logo formed limbs -- cute, little black arms and legs that looked too small to hold it well. With a snap of its fingers, the circle vanished into thin air and the screaming ceased. The tree turned blue, its whole body a cute shade of blue. It looked so cute, William thought, until he saw its lone eye open.

That was why it was familiar: it looked exactly like the drawing in the Journal. It was the demon. His summoning _worked_.

The demon stretched its arms and William could hear a sigh emit from its non-present mouth. " _Gravity Falls, it's been_ way _too long._ " It said before it looked down at William.

" _And who could you be?_ " It asked, its voice high-pitched. Its eye looked at him with curiosity, all wide and piercing.

William scrambled to his feet and he brushed off the mud on his hands on his pants. "Oh crap," He swore under his breath. Alright fine, he'd have to explain a _lot_ of things when he gets back. He looked up to see that the demon was floating a few feet above him, still looking at him intently. "I'm W-William. William C-Cipher."

" _Hello William, I'm Dipper._ " It introduced. " _Dipper Pines._ " William stared wide-eyed at it. The author had _never_ written down Dipper's name in the Journal; it was always 'the demon' or 'it'. " _No one could summon me unless they know where to look. How did you get that?_ " It pointed to the Journal.

"What -- Oh." He looked down at the fallen book by his feet. "This? I found it in the woods when I was out on a walk." The demon hummed at his words, floating down to the ground. "So, uh ... can I make that deal now?"

" _If you want._ " Dipper replied. " _But if you must know,_ " It looked up at him with an expectant look -- could a blue tree with one eye even _look_ like anything? -- and William paused. " _Deals always come at a price._ "

William shuddered. "I-it's not in money, though, right?" He asked. "Because, r-really, why would you need money? Y-You're a demon and that d-doesn't seem..." He trailed off as he tried to look for the right word. Logical? Practical? Sensical? Was that even a word? He must have been outwardly panicking, because he could hear Dipper laugh at his worries.

" _Holy fuck, kid, I'm not looking for money._ " William sighed in relief. Thank God, he only had five dollars on him. " _It depends on what you want. So, kid, what do you want?_ "

His reply was almost automatic. "I don't want to be bullied anymore." He blurted out. "I don't want kids making fun of me every day. I don't want to be punched in the gut every Lunch. I don't want to go home every afternoon with bruises and cracked ribs. I don't want my teachers always scolding me for defending myself!" William stomped his foot and crossed his arms, huffing loudly. He didn't bother looking at Dipper, because he already figured that it was looking at him.

"I-I don't like that I can't wear casts or heal myself until summer so that Grunkle Stan could patch me up. I don't like how I can't tell my parents about any of this! I don't like that I always have to act kind to the bullies so they wouldn't make up lies about me, either." He let out a shaky breath. Despite the silence the demon provided, William could feel it just looking at him. Staring at him for some reason -- it was a feeling William was all too familiar with. He hung his head and he glared at the ground. 

"I don't like the bullying, I want it to stop, and the book said you'd grant any deal for the exchange of something you want."

He didn't add anything else, and Dipper didn't seem like it -- William decided he should at least call him 'they' because 'it' sounded so degrading -- they didn't want to, either.

It was only after he looked back up and sniffed did they speak. " _So, is that it? Or do you want some other things, too?_ " Dipper asked. When William shook his head, they only sighed. " _Look, kid, I'll take this chance to use the power you're giving me and all, but ... my sister. My sister has this soft spot for kids -- especially bullied ones -- and she'll bite my ass if I did._

" _So how about this: I'll let you be as specific and on-point as you could be, and you be as specific and on-point as you could be._ " William only looked at them in confusion. " _Look, are you sure you only want the bullying to stop? Not the pain? Not the hurt? Whatever the hell kids get for whatever crap they've done?_ "

"... Ohhh ..." William said in realization. Really, Dipper was actually okay -- like how the author described them. "Well ... I guess, I wouldn't want anyone to hurt me anymore.

"Like how they'd punch me, yell at me, tell me I'm worthless and horrible." He paused. "I don't want them to do that anymore, and I don't want them to get away with it. Not ever. Dad always said that there were consequences for bad things, and I want them to suffer the consequences for bullying me. And..." He blinked. "That's it."

" _That's it?_ "

"That's it." William said firmly. The demon nodded and held out their hand.

" _Well, alright._ " They floated up so that their hand would reach up to William's and they looked up at him. " _I'll do what you want -- make the bullying stop, stop people from hurting you in anyway, and punish them for trying. In exchange, you'll owe me a simple favour._ "

Now, William thought he'd had to pay with a head or a dead body. Like, something gruesome and brutal that, of course, he'd be willing to pay. He wasn't expecting something so ... simple? Or rather, something so vague. Because, thinking about it, Dipper's demand was _general_ , unlike his. It wasn't specific or on-point -- by general, Dipper could demand of him _anything_. And he'd agree to that. Was it worth it?

Not really, but William was done being a victim of prejudice. He'd agree to anything for it to stop. He nodded his head. "Yeah, sure, I-I'll do it. I'll accept."

Dipper looked at him incredulously before they held out their hand again. William took it -- it felt scaley in his hands -- and they shook hands. Green fire popped out of Dipper's hand and William yelped, Dipper's hand still in his as the green fire snaked its way up William's arm. It tickled him, surprisingly, and William looked at it dumbfounded.

_How could that happen?_

The demon let go of his hand and the fire vanished. They snapped their fingers and a necklace popped out. Its chain were interlocked gold pieces, its pendant a carved onyx. They gestured for William to take it, and it fell into his hands when he reached for it.

" _Here, this'll help._ " They said. " _It'll keep you safe. Though, it wouldn't do you any good when it was_ you _who provoked them first. So don't think of doing anything stupid._ " William felt the onyx, feeling its cold smooth surface underneath his fingertips. " _I expect that you will not break this?_ "

He nodded meekly as he looked up. "S-Sure..." Dipper snapped their fingers and floated higher.

The screams from before echoed again, louder this time. " _Then I'm off._ " They said. " _My business is done here._ " The circle from before pulled up and they left, the screams leaving with them.

For a moment, William thought that they'd come back. He wasn't sure if it was an inkling or anything, or that perhaps he was just kind of tired. He looked back to his watch. _4:25AM_. 

"Long trek back, William." He sighed as he pocketed the necklace. "And I still have to wash all this off." He knelt down to blow out the fires of his candles, picking each one up after blowing it out. Maybe he'd be able to reuse it? It wasn't like the all the wicks were burned. 

He shoved them all back into his backpack and he stood up. The red paint (which was still wet) was prominent in the mud, and William could only think of leaving it behind. He couldn't clean it up now -- maybe he could do it later in the morning? It'd dry, sure, but maybe it would make a less of a mess by then.

He pulled out his flashflight and turned it on, turning around to head back for the Shack. It would be a long trek back home, and he only had three hours left before Grunkle Stan opened up the Shack for business.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> First fic I publish on AO3? First fic I publish on AO3. (Wow, it sure is difficult, by the way.) Thank you to a friend of mine for proofreading this for me. It really helped a lot! Now, in regards to the title? Ehhh ... I'm not really good at titles. I just used this one for laughs, make it sound like some alien encounter. Which it kind of is. Unless this was referring to another work I have in mind? I don't know. I really don't know. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! If you liked it, just add a 'Kudos' or comment! It'd be really helpful to see a critique since I'm a bit rusty.


End file.
